Night out with the Chef
Bangkok-born chef Andy Yang earned a Michelin star in 2010 for his NYC Thai bistro Rhong Tiam, the first Thai restaurant operated by a Thai to receive the award.
Now he’s operating two very different restaurants in Bangkok. His goal is nothing less than to change how Thais view their own cuisine.
Our travel agent arranged for us to meet Chef Andy (Note: not the American running for the Democratic presidential nomination) and visit his restaurants, Table 38 (Michelin One Star) and Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu, AKA Eat Pad Thai (Michelin Bib Gourmand).
Chef Andy told us that Thais don’t value their own cuisine, especially dishes that are considered street food; they expect it to be inexpensive. He wants to show that by using the finest ingredients and carefully tuned cooking techniques, it is possible to create a more elevated form of traditional dishes such as pad thai.
Pad thai is “actually the most complicated noodle dish in the whole world,” says Chef Andy. The oil in the wok must be extremely hot for the best absorption of flavors; the noodles should be “al dente like Italian pasta” and caramelized from palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind paste; and the chef must achieve the appropriate wok hei (charred aroma and flavor).
A secret to Chef Andy’s excellent pad thai is intense heat. One of the chefs demonstrated his explosive wok-frying technique. (Only a few of Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu’s chefs are able to cook pad thai to Chef Andy’s standards.)
Chef Andy hopped in our guide’s van, along with his friend and their assistants, and treated us to a whirlwind tour of Bangkok’s nightlife, taking us to the restaurants and bars that chefs and other restaurant people frequent on their nights off. First, we went to Jay Hong Pan Fried Chicken Noodles Worachak. Only the mama owner works at the charcoal stove, wearing goggles and a face mask against the blistering heat.
People wait for hours to enjoy Jeh O Chula’s fiery seafood noodles, but there was a table waiting for our entourage when we walked in. We were invited into the kitchen to watch the making of this wonderful pan of noodles and other dishes.
Next we found ourselves at a sidewalk food stand, enjoying what Chef Andy declared to be the best grilled pork in Bangkok.
Our last stop, down a dark little Chinatown alley, was a quirky bar designed to look like a life-size spirit house, a shrine to the protective spirit of a place. TEP BAR — Cultural Bar of Thailand, was nearly empty — it was early by restaurant-industry standards, and there was a major football/soccer game that night.
From the creative cocktail list, Chef Andy recommended the signature flight of three herbal liquors, amusingly named Seven Eleven, Lion King, and Pussy Whipped. Seven Eleven was okay. The flight was certainly the most distinctive and unusual item on the cocktail menu, but perhaps not the most enjoyable.
The next day we met Chef Andy at Table 38, his high-end restaurant where he explores new cooking techniques. The chef is a bit of a mad scientist in the kitchen; he’s interested in molecular gastronomy and has a library of food porn books such as Modernist Cuisine and the el Bulli cookbooks on display.
He showed us his collection of lab equipment that he applies in his kitchen, including a SonicPrep Ultrasonic homogenizer that he used to make infusions, tenderize meat, and thoroughly combine the ingredients of a traditional khao soi (coconut curry with crispy noodles).
Slightly less exotic equipment included a sous vide machine and a blast chiller. We sampled a few dishes from the Table 38 menus.
At Table 38, Chef Andy says, he’s “using today’s knowledge to tell yesterday’s story.” It’s an intimate experience, with two seatings at 6pm and at 9pm, at a single communal table with 12 seats, located adjacent to an open kitchen. He serves five different menus: “Introduction,” the “Full Experience,” the “Ultimate Experience,” the “Check Andy Yang Experience,” and the 44-course “Ultimate Dining Experience.”
There is a prescribed order to the menus. Guests must begin with the Introduction and cannot reserve the Ultimate until they have progressed through all of the other menus. As is common at many upscale restaurants, the actual menu descriptions are minimal.
Since dishes are served at the same time to guests at the communal table, the chefs can describe each menu item in detail, and the diners can discuss the dishes as they enjoy them. We especially enjoy fine-dining restaurants with this dinner-party atmosphere, such as Lazy Bear in San Francisco and The Herbfarm in Seattle.
From a practical and business point of view, Chef Andy faces a lot of challenges at Table 38. Filling just 12 seats can be tricky, and we don’t know how his staff manages when guests are ordering from different menus with a different number of items. Bangkok traffic can be horrid — it is not unheard of for people to be delayed by two hours — and if someone shows up 30 minutes late for the first seating, it could throw off everything.
But Table 38 is a work of passion and art for Chef Andy, and he admits it will never be profitable. The owner of the small space allows him to use it rent-free. His VIP guest list (which has included more than one king, according to the chef) boots his reputation and helps him build contacts for his future culinary ambitions.
